This application claims a priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 11-243548 filed on Aug. 30, 1999 and Japanese Patent Application No. 11-246276 filed on Aug. 31, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
The present invention relates to a contents data reproducing apparatus that reproduces contents data such as audio data, video data, or the like recorded in a record medium such as an optical disk.
Conventionally, in an event such as various ceremonies and parties, it is prepared to liven up the event by changing a piece of BGM (Background Music) as the event proceeds. For example, in a wedding reception, different pieces of BGM are reproduced between a scene of entrance of a bride and bridegroom and a scene of the bride and bridegroom moving on among invited guests. In that case, it is necessary to smoothly change the pieces of BGM reproduced in order not to destroy the atmosphere of the wedding reception.
Thus, conventionally, for example, a plurality of pieces of BGM used in an event are selected and edited in advance, and recorded in a disk such as CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable). This disk is set to a disk player and the pieces of BGM are continuously reproduced, thus changing pieces of BGM in accordance with progress of the event.
In the case that a plurality of pieces of BGM to be used in an event are recorded in a disk with CD-DA (Compact Disc Digital Audio) format, there are soundless parts between music pieces in CD-DA. Accordingly, when this disk is continuously played in a conventional disk player, the soundless parts between music pieces are also reproduced. This may destroy the atmosphere of the event.
Further, an event does not always proceed according to a timetable. Thus, sometimes, it is necessary that reproduction of a music piece is stopped in mid course and reproduction of the next music piece is started. In such a case, in a conventional disk player, a soundless state continues while a pickup selects and searches the next music piece. This makes the attendance become aware that an operator is carrying out selecting operation, and may destroy the atmosphere of the event.
In connection with this, such a disk player is proposed that, according to an operator""s direction, starting parts of a plurality of music pieces recorded on a disk are stored in a memory in advance, and a starting part of a music piece to be reproduced is read from the memory and reproduced while a pickup is searching the disk for the music piece in question. This disk player can prevent a soundless state in a period of searching. However, an operator must carry out complicated operations such as finding positions in which music pieces of BGM used in an event are recorded in a CD and storing the starting parts of those music pieces into a memory. Further, a large memory capacity is required for storing starting parts of a plurality of music pieces, and it increases the cost.
The present invention has been made taking the above situation into consideration. An object of the present invention is to provide a contents data reproducing apparatus that can continuously reproduce various music pieces recorded in one record medium (for example, an optical disk) without bringing a soundless state.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a first mode of the present invention provides a contents data reproducing apparatus for reproducing plural pieces of contents data stored in a storage medium, comprising:
a pickup for reading the contents data from the storage medium;
a level comparison means for comparing between a level of the contents data read by said pickup and a predetermined reference level;
a buffer for storing the contents data read by said pickup;
a reproducing means for reproducing the contents data stored in said buffer; and
a control means for writing the contents data read by said pickup into said buffer and for reading the contents data stored in said buffer to send said contents data to said reproducing means;
wherein:
when said pickup finishes reading of a reproducing object piece of contents data, said control means stops writing of the contents data into said buffer and makes said pickup move to a front of a next reproducing object piece of contents data to start reading of said next reproducing object piece of contents data; and
when, a result of comparison by said level comparison means shows that a level of said next reproducing object piece of contents data becomes higher than said predetermined reference level, then, said control means starts writing of the next reproducing object piece of contents data, which is read by said pickup, into said buffer means.
A second mode of the present invention provides a contents data reproducing apparatus for reproducing plural pieces of contents data stored in a storage medium, comprising:
a pickup for reading the contents data from the storage medium;
a level comparison means for comparing between a level of the contents data read by said pickup and a predetermined reference level;
a buffer for storing the contents data read by said pickup;
a reproducing means for reproducing the contents data stored in said buffer;
a reproducing object designation receiving means for receiving designation of a next piece of contents data to be reproduced out of the plural pieces of contents data stored in said storage medium;
a display means for displaying that a piece of contents data whose designation is received by said reproducing object designation receiving means can be immediately reproduced;
a reproduction start instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction of starting reproduction of the piece of contents data whose designation is received by said reproducing object designation receiving means; and
a control means for wiring the contents data read by said pickup into said buffer and for reading the contents data stored in said buffer to send said contents data to said reproducing means;
wherein:
when, in the course of reading a reproducing object piece of contents data by said pickup, said reproducing object designation receiving means receives designation of a next piece of contents data to be reproduced, said control means stops writing of contents data into said buffer, and makes said pickup move to a front of the designated piece of contents data to start reading of said designated piece of contents data;
when the pickup that has started reading said designated piece of contents data moves to a position at which a result of comparison by said level comparison means shows that a level of said designated contents data becomes higher than the predetermined reference level, then, said control means makes said pickup wait at said position and makes display means display that said designated piece of contents data can be immediately reproduced; and
when said reproduction start instruction receiving means receives an instruction of starting reproduction in a state that said display means displays that immediate reproduction is possible, then, said control means cancels waiting of said pickup to make the pickup start reading said designated piece of contents data, and starts writing of said designated piece of contents data, which is read by said pickup, into said buffer.
Here, in the above-described first and second modes, the level of the contents data means audio level (sound volume level) in the case that the contents data is audio data, and brightness level in the case of video data.
Further, the predetermined reference level means the soundless level in the case that the contents data is audio data, and the black level in the case of video data.
Further, a third mode of the present invention provides a contents data reproducing apparatus for reproducing plural pieces of contents data stored in a storage medium, comprising:
a pickup for reading the contents data from the storage medium;
a buffer for storing the contents data read by said pickup;
a reproducing means for reproducing the contents data stored in said buffer;
an addressing receiving means for receiving designation of a reproduction stop address at which reproduction of a piece of contents data under reproduction out of said plural pieces of contents data stored in said storage medium is stopped, and designation of a reproduction start address at which reproduction of a next piece of contents data to be reproduced is started; and
a control means for writing the contents data read by said pickup into said buffer and for reading the contents data stored in said buffer to send said contents data to said reproducing means;
wherein:
when a position at which said pickup reads said piece of contents data under reproduction arrives at a position corresponding to the reproduction stop address received by said addressing receiving means, then, said control means stops writing of the contents data into said buffer and makes said pickup move to a position corresponding to the reproduction start address received by said addressing receiving means; and
when said pickup arrives at the position corresponding to said reproduction start address, said control means makes said pickup wait at said position corresponding to the reproduction start address;
when data corresponding to said reproduction stop address is read from said buffer to said reproducing means in a state that said pickup waits, then said control means cancels waiting of said pickup to make the pickup start reading of said next piece of contents data to be reproduced, and starts writing of said next piece of contents data to be reproduced, which is read by said pickup, into said buffer.
Further, a fourth mode of the present invention provides a contents data reproducing apparatus for reproducing plural pieces of contents data stored in a storage medium, comprising:
a pickup for reading the contents data from the storage medium;
a buffer for storing the contents data read by said pickup;
a reproducing means for reproducing the contents data stored in said buffer;
an addressing receiving means for receiving designation of a reproduction stop address at which reproduction of a piece of contents data under reproduction out of said plural pieces of contents data stored in said storage medium is stopped, and designation of a reproduction start address at which reproduction of a next piece of contents data to be reproduced is started;
a reproduction start instruction receiving means for receiving an instruction of starting reproduction of said next piece of contents data to be reproduced whose reproduction start address is received by said addressing receiving means;
a display means for displaying that said next piece of contents data to be reproduced for which the instruction of starting reproduction is received by said reproduction start instruction receiving means can be immediately reproduced; and
a control means for writing the contents data read by said pickup into said buffer and for reading the contents data stored in said buffer to send said contents data to said reproducing means;
wherein:
when a position at which said pickup reads said piece of contents data under reproduction arrives at a position corresponding to the reproduction stop address received by said addressing receiving means, then, said control means stops writing of the contents data into said buffer and makes said pickup move to a position corresponding to the reproduction start address received by said addressing receiving means;
when said pickup arrives at the position corresponding to said reproduction start address, said control means makes said pickup wait at said position corresponding to said reproduction start address and makes said display means display that the next piece of contents data to be reproduced can be immediately reproduced; and
when said reproduction start instruction receiving means receives an instruction of starting reproduction in a state that said display means displays that immediate reproduction is possible, then said control means cancels waiting of said pickup to make the pickup start reading of said next piece of contents data to be reproduced, and, after clearing said buffer, starts writing of said next piece of contents data to be reproduced, which is read by said pickup, into said buffer.
Here, the present mode may be varied as follows.
Namely, when said reproduction start instruction receiving means receives an instruction of starting reproduction, then, said control means stops writing of the contents data into said buffer and makes said pickup move to a position corresponding to the reproduction start address received by said addressing receiving means;
when said pickup arrives at the position corresponding to said reproduction start address, said control means makes said pickup wait at said position corresponding to said reproduction start address and makes said display means display that the next piece of contents data to be reproduced can be immediately reproduced; and
when said reproduction start instruction receiving means receives an instruction of starting reproduction in a state that said display means displays that immediate reproduction is possible, then said control means cancels waiting of said pickup to make the pickup start reading of said next piece of contents data to be reproduced, and, after clearing said buffer, starts writing of said next piece of contents data to be reproduced, which is read by said pickup, into said buffer.